When looking into colleges, sprinter Paige Chapman, who grew up in Maryland, said most talented track athletes looked south, not north, for college. But Manhattan College associate head coach Joe Ryan contacted her high school coach and encouraged her to check out New York. She fell in love with the school and the city when she visited, and the rest is history.
“It was everything I was looking for in one spot,” said Chapman, now a junior majoring in history and philosophy with an eye toward pursuing Afro-Caribbean studies in graduate school. At Manhattan, she has excelled on and off the track, developing self-discipline and confidence from being a student-athlete. Her long-term goal is to become a college professor.
“[As an athlete] I feel I’ve grown in two ways,” she stated. “First is physically. I used to be very skinny. I’ve been lifting a lot more and doing more explosive types of workouts. Also, technically I’ve changed a lot. It’s the small things. The way that I hold my arms and place my feet in the blocks are different. That’s changed the way that I’ve run completely for the better.”
Chapman ended indoor season on a good note, winning the 60-meter dash at the ECAC & IC4A indoor championships. Thus far, outdoor season, in which she runs the 100 and 200 meters, has been going OK and she hopes to sustain momentum over the next few weeks. Sometimes Chapman stands alongside the coach in practice and learns valuable lessons about how to be a leader.
“The way that I motivate my teammates is I always want to know how they are regardless of how close I am with them on or off the track,” Chapman said. “I want to know, ‘How are you feeling?’ That at the end of the day affects everybody. I want to make sure that everybody is doing technically what they’re supposed to be doing. If they need help with anything, I’m available.”
This coming weekend, the Jaspers head to the renowned Penn Relays, where Chapman will run the first leg in the 4×100.
“At Penn Relays, I really like watching the SMR [sprint medley relay] because it’s not something you see a lot,” she said. “It showcases all of the best sprinting events in one relay.”